Bringing your whole fucking family to A&E

[changedlife]

Waiting to be seen at A&E. sent here by GP because DH has had an adverse blood result that needs to be dealt with.

A&E packed as usual. To be expected. However one family is here with one woman. There are 5 grown adults with the patient who is in her 30s... I don't know her issue but laughing a joking with the family. Just to add to the joy their phones go off constantly whereupon they give a blow by blow run down of her current medical state (she's hurt her foot it seems - from the latest phone update. )

DH is disabled. There is nowhere to sit In A&E. Foot-family are settled in and have actually just had a KFC delivery. I swear it's like an evening out for them.

DH can't stand. So have sent him back to wait in the car - which as he has a blue badge - is quite close. I'll call him when his turn comes. As I can stand.. However .. AIBU to think you don't need FIVE adults accompanying you to A&E. ? Especially with some really poorly older people have had to resort to sitting on the floor ? (And no one has volunteered their seat for them. )

I have decided to grow a pair and have spoken to the sleeping police man .. (erstwhile security guard) . He has reluctantly vacated his seat and ambled off to speak to someone... (I'm not hopeful - pretty sure he has gone to find himself a comfy trolly somewhere.. where annoying members of the public can't disturb him..

Well done OP.

Appalling behaviour from the fingerlickin fucker family.

Do they really deliver takeaway to A&E? Wow.

A&e is a day out for some people. Absolutely bizarre.

Apologies my post was supposed to say YANBU! Can't edit on the app.

Well done for speaking up.

This makes me so angry! My best friend had just given birth and had to go to A&E for well, you guessed it, an emergency. Her newborn and husband were at home and she was so scared and emotional that she asked me to come and sit with her. I did, but at one point it got so busy that anyone accompanying anyone over the age of 18 was told to leave. Definitely not getting KFC delivered!

Inconsiderate morons sitting munching away and being loud laughing when others may be distressed or in pain. Staff should move some of them on.

YANBU. It's annoying when it feels like a family outing and they're taking up seating spaces.

This. Also, a lot of people feel v nauseous in A and E. Can't imagine the smell of a zinger burger helps matters.......Bloody disgraceful.

I don't work in A&E but a similar waiting room experience and half the day is spent asking family to give up their seat so patients can be seen. I put sandwiches out today and three relatives got up and grabbed them straight away for themselves. I don't blame people for having support, it can be a tough wait when you are feeling poorly and an advocate can be helpful however I really wish people would read the room and think about other people some times.

Also I'm just maybe hyper anxious but if his bloods are off and he has been told he needs urgently to attend ED I would really want him to be in the building and have eyes on him, not away in the car. Unlike the majority of folk there he has already had bloods which require medical intervention. I know that's easier said than done and hope snoozey security guard or some staff member comes out and sorts the situation soon.

I know it’s hard but you have to loudly and politely speak across the room “can anyone please give a seat to my disabled husband, he is the patient”? Assert yourself! P.S. hope he is ok and hope he gets a seat!

Last time I attended a&e it was for repeated vomiting due to a medical condition. I bet I could have put them off their KFC 😂

At least you are only sharing A&E with them. Imagine someone in your family mating with one of them. Some poor sod will do and drag them in as in laws.

Our A&E dept receptionist actually keeps an eye on how many seats are available and as they fill up they will announce it's one person per patient and anyone who is not a patient has to stand.
They're very hot on it.

YANBU

as an aside have you ever been to A&E on the day of a big England game?

Tumbleweed central.

They love the drama Mick

In ours theres a sign saying one person per patient allowed.

Who eats KFC in A&E! That is beyond anti-social and somehow just sounds really unhygienic as well.

If you’re hungry go outside. Even better, leave.

Yup that would make me so mad!! I was once in a&e and a family turned up(mum, teenage son and teenage daughter) and they were all patients!!! I heard mum on the phone saying she hadn't felt well all day, but couldn't come to a&e until after work and tea, son had a tummy ache and daughter had a sore throat! They were laughing, playing and chatting on their phones.

I remember sitting in A&E 17 years ago on a Saturday night due to a partially severed finger. I was in so much pain, was kept waiting over three hours made worse by the most hideous group of people that came in, mainly in tracksuits and nightwear, laughing and revelling in the drama of sitting in A&E with their friend / family member. All talking and shouting absolute shit, while I was in pain and highly irritable. I could take it no more so went home and came back next morning.

Every time I've had the displeasure of having to go to a&e I've seen stuff like this
Some people seem to see it as a day out
Why anyone who didn't need to be there would want to is beyond me

I took ds to A and E in July as he became really poorly really quickly. He was in severe pain but had to wait a few hours for pain relief as he hadn't been assigned a doctor. All around us there were groups of people seemingly treating it as a day out: laughing and joking and popping out every now and again for a cigarette. The noise really wasn't helping ds. I'm not saying it should be like a morgue but if you can laugh and joke and smoke a cigarette, how f&@king urgently ill are you?

Yes, saw three adults accompanying one (fine, in decent shape, mouthy) adult. There weren’t enough seats and I felt very cross.

I had similar experiences in the maternity assessment unit. I had to go in frequently with both of my pregnancies and the hangers on were ridiculous. I was always alone as husband was at work which probably made it more exaggerated it. There was just so little privacy, it would have been soooo much nicer without people turning up with 4 other adults and a child etc.

It's not the staff's job to be organising grown ass adults to share seats. Sort it out amongst yourselves.

of course it's the staff's job!